Paul Scholes Critiques Carrick's Use of Cunha After Everton Draw
Paul Scholes has sounded the alarm for Michael Carrick, insisting Manchester United cannot keep lining up without a recognised centre-forward – and that Matheus Cunha is at the heart of the issue.
United laboured to a goalless draw against Everton on Sunday, a game littered with flat performances. Cunha’s display, though, stood out for all the wrong reasons.
Passes overhit. Touches heavy. Runs made into the wrong spaces. Big chances spurned. His afternoon became a highlight reel of what can go wrong for a forward when confidence and clarity desert them.
Once again, Cunha looked like a player without a defined role. Last season, Carrick mainly trusted him off the left, where he could drift inside and link play. Marcus Rashford’s return has ripped up that script. With Rashford restored to his favoured wide berth, Cunha has been shunted around the frontline.
At times he has led the line as a sort of false nine. On other occasions, Bruno Fernandes has stepped into that role, with Cunha dropping into the No 10 position. The result? A Brazilian who once played with swagger at Old Trafford now appears lost, short of inspiration and stripped of the confidence that marked his first campaign.
Carrick can argue it is still early in the season, that Cunha is building towards full fitness. Scholes, though, sees a tactical problem that needs fixing.
Scholes: ‘What is Cunha?’
Speaking on The Good, The Bad And The Football podcast, the former United midfielder did not hide his frustration at the current set-up.
"It's very difficult to watch a Man United team without a centre forward," Scholes said.
"Now, what Cunha is, I don't really know what Cunha is, what is he a number 10 or a wide player.
"But he's definitely not a number nine. And watching the United team without a number nine, it's a struggle."
The contrast when Benjamin Sesko entered the fray at the Hill Dickinson Stadium was immediate. United suddenly had a focal point. A target. A proper penalty-box presence.
Sesko attacked a superb cross from Luke Shaw, rose highest and buried his header to restore United’s lead, if only briefly. It was exactly the kind of movement and finish Scholes believes this team is crying out for on a regular basis.
United still contrived to let the points slip. Deep into stoppage time, Ainsley Maitland-Niles produced a stunning strike that silenced the away end and wiped out Sesko’s impact on the scoreline, if not on the debate around United’s No 9 role.
The goal did not change the underlying question: can Carrick really persist with Cunha as his central option when one of his greatest former midfielders insists the Brazilian simply is not a centre-forward?
With a Champions League opener against Sabah looming on Thursday, Carrick’s next team sheet will say plenty. Does he double down on Cunha and his fluid front line, or does Sesko’s brief but convincing audition force a rethink up top?
